Nintendo: Zelda Unofficially Arrives On iPhone App Store

Zelda is now officially on the iPhone, though it’s not quite what you would expect. Ultimate iZelda Climb developed by Audio Attack is not your standard Zelda game but is quite simply a clone of DoodleJump. I haven’t had a chance to play it but be sure to grab it before Nintendo take it down.

Nintendo wouldn’t waste their time suing a romhacker or fan-game maker, mostly because no money is being made off of their property.
In this case, the app creator is making over $1 USD per purchase while using copyrighted (or trademarked; it’s mostly the same in the large scope of things) material, which is grounds for a lawsuit.

Yes, the difference between Rom hackers and fan game makers though is they don’t distribute their product and if they do they’re smart enough to change what they have to in order to prevent copyright infringement.

They won’t sue them, just take it down… why pay hundreds of thousands to take down a fan-made app? Even if it’s copyright-infringing? Just tell Apple to take it down… it’s quicker (a few days, or even hours, versus months) and free.

It’s not fan made. The team that made this have also made the same type of clone using themes such as Hello Kitty and Call of Duty. Since they haven’t been sued yet, they keep on using those characters as they please to attract people, and they’re charging for the app. A fan made manga or story using Zelda characters is allowed; a shameless rip off of the game so they can make money is violating the copyright act. If this turns into something bigger, even apple may be in trouble because the app store allows people to rip off whatever they want and make money off of it.

They don’t need to know what Zelda is, but they should be running copywright checks. The least they could do is internet search the name of the app they’re approving, a google image search would show the character and they could see from wikipedia that it’s owned by nintendo…
If they’re incapable of simply searching the title, i’m baffled as to how their approval process works…

Once again, you’re talking about guys in an office who accept applications to a device – Why should they know what games Nintendo own? Not all apps are games, and not all people who play games on a phone are familiar with Nintendo’s titles.

P.S. Apple never said anything about wanting Nintendo games – It’s analysts. Geez.

Well the fact that nintendo is one of the most well known gaming companies means that you’d expect the average person to at least know the company.
If it’s your job to make sure a game is allowed onto the app store, and it’s your job to check if it breaches copyright, and you let a game like this through that even has the name of the franchise it is ripping off as part of its title, you can’t be very good at it…

Really? A Zelda clone is proof? I play much more on my 3DS (already have over 300 hours clocked) than on my iPod, but really you’re just being an idiot. The iOS devices play games, therefore they’re gaming platforms. Is that too complicated for you?

Your statement sounds true but in case of iOS there are probably close to 100,000 game apps. Though most of them are crap, still you can find some really excellent ones with the help of review websites. I spent probably several hundred hours on my ipod last year playing games. If that is still not considered as a gaming device what the hell should I call it?

funny that you say that, because the majority of people own a wii, even if they dot play it anymore (which i do) nintendo still made the money, so i would bet more people have bought a wii than an xbox or something

I would be fine with this if they weren’t charging for it. But, I don’t think Nintendo should sue, but just have it taken down. People who make iPhone apps generally aren’t rolling in cash, so taking their money is a little harsh.

i agree, when something does well and is popular, you see “clones” of it, on the exbox there is a game that is the same as angry birds and it’s called angry fish, when something is popular and a clone is made, it increases profit by more then you expect, there is a ton of knockoff games everywhere, it’s part of how people make money

Well, the developers are doing it on purpose and this can damage Zelda’s image. Plus, they’re charging for it and it’s not the first time they do it. They have used Call of Duty themes as well as Hello Kitty. When it comes to protecting their stuff, Nintendo can be pretty harsh. There was this guy that pirated New Super Mario Bros and uploaded it to the Internet. I’m not sure if he charged anything for it, but Nintendo won the case and the guy was order to pay over 1 million dollars for damages plus he would have to cover Nintendo’s legal fees like the court and stuff. Nintendo has also won against R4 cards that had been used for the piracy of games and stuff.

Nintendo can be pretty hardcore in this aspect and you wouldn’t want to be caught dead damaging their properties.

Apple is a great company in overal but i hate their comments on gaming and hate their approval system. They Approved a Zelda clone payware on Iphone.

Apple is a great company appart from that, I have a mac and i love it over Windows. Fact, Microsoft copied the Apple Operating system. Apple is a original company as they don’t copy but did Apple get their Ipad idea from startrek?

Also, I think it’s quite silly for you to suggest we pay for a game that is breaching nintendo’s copyright. It’s obviously not even that good, and you’re just helping a company make money of someone elses franchise